The Seville Film Festival confirms its vitality and broad outlook, bringing together around 180 titles in its programme. These include films that have stood out at major international festivals and new perspectives that set the tone for contemporary European cinema. ‘This autumn will be a great celebration of the cinema that beats or is reflected in Europe,’ said Festival Director Manuel Cristobal, before mentioning some of the films that will be screened in the Official Section.
The list of titles announced for the Official Section includes “DJ Ahmet” by Georgi M. Unkovski (Macedonia). A Balkan coming-of-age film that won an award at Sundance 2025, combining humour and social criticism to portray a young man caught between tradition and modernity in a small village in Macedonia. A vibrant story about identity, freedom, and music as a refuge.
In this same competition section, we will find “Dreams”, written and directed by Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway), Golden Bear at Berlin 2025, and the third part of the director's trilogy on human relationships in the form of a delicate reflection on intimacy, writing and adolescent sexuality in a story that intertwines generations around the discovery of love and the ethics of public exposure.
Also competing in Seville is “La Petite Dernière”, written and directed by Hafsia Herzi (France and Algeria), winner of the Best Actress Award at Cannes for Nadia Melliti. Adapted from the novel by Fatima Daas, the film paints a vibrant and moving portrait of a young Muslim woman who explores her homosexuality in the suburbs of Paris, grappling with the reconciliation of faith, identity, and desire.
The posthumous work of Laurent Cantet, completed by Robin Campillo, who also co-wrote the script with the French master and Gilles Marchand, and presented at Cannes, “Enzo” (Italy and France) arrives in the Official Section of Seville; a social and emotional snapshot of European youth, manual labour and the search for identity, mixing realism and emotion in a story of friendship and personal discovery.
Animation will be represented in the Seville Festival competition by “A Magnificent Life”, written and directed by four-time Oscar nominee Sylvain Chomet (France, Belgium, and Luxembourg). This animated biopic traces the life of the famous French playwright, novelist, and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, from his childhood to his rise to fame. The film is a visually stunning work that premiered at Cannes.
Representing Spain in the festival's Official Section is “Bajo el mismo sol” (Under the Same Sun) by Ulises Porra, written by himself together with Ulla Prida (Spain and Dominican Republic); a story of ambitions, passions and contradictions set in the colonial Caribbean, which explores the desire for progress and emotional ties in a territory riddled with historical and cultural tensions, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
For the first time in its 22-year history, the Official Section also includes a competitive selection of European live-action and animated short films. "A great festival cannot fail to have a competitive short film section, and for the first time in 22 editions, we have one. It is a commitment to talent. One more, because last year we created Rampa for new directors and a way to reach a broader audience. We are breaking with inertia and taking steps to ensure that this festival continues to contribute to cinema and to Seville," said the Festival Director.
This preview of the Official Selection programme was part of the first presentation of the 22nd edition of the Seville Festival, where some of the new features of the event were announced.
